Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It’s always so refreshing when a politician lets slip a little nugget of truth without really intending to do so. It is especially refreshing when this rare event happens right before an election. Mitch McConnell, our august Senate Minority Leader of all politicians, revealed his party’s real plan for the next two years after the landslide victories they predict they will be celebrating on November 3rd. In an uncharacteristically candid interview with the National Journal magazine, Senator McConnell said

“THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE WANT TO ACHIEVE IS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA TO BE A ONE-TERM PRESIDENT.”Of course, being aghast that he had let slip the secret Republican plan for the next two years, Senator McConnell’s office immediately tried to walk his statement back, by putting out releases saying that he meant to say that it was the single most important “political” goal. The only problem with that explanation is that in the same National Journal interview, McConnell also let slip the following nugget of truth:

“OUR SINGLE BIGGEST POLITICAL GOAL IS TO GIVE OUR NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT THE MAXIMUM OPPPORTUNITY TO BE SUCCESSFUL.”

So, basically, McConnell has laid out the entire Republican agenda for the next two years if they take control of Congress and it boils down to this: The question regarding any legislation that may come up in the next two years is not whether or not this is good for America or good for Americans, or good for the economy, or good for jobs or good for our national security…no, it will be whether or not this legislation will hurt President Obama and might it help the Republican presidential nominee in 2012. If this is what is important to you, then you will be pleased with the results you get when you vote Republican on Tuesday.

This being my last column before Election Day, I’d like to say a few more words about the hundreds of millions of secret dollars being spent by anonymous donors to influence our votes. Washington Post Journalist and Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institute said this past week, “What we’re seeing here is spending of secret political money on a scale that we haven’t seen since Watergate.” Since August 1st and October 24th the three top PACs that take secret money, including the Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity (the billionaire Koch Brothers’ group), and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, had placed nearly 50,000 attack ads against Democrats. When you go to vote on Tuesday, I hope you will think about what is really important to you and the issues that affect your life the most. If, like a lot of people in this country right now, one of the most important things is having and keeping a job, then I hope you’ll consider the following:

“There are legitimate values in outsourcing. Not only jobs, but work.” President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed outsourcing as good for the American economy in 2004. According to the Associated Press on July 1, 2004, Mr. Donohue urged American companies to send jobs overseas. Donohue said people affected by offshoring should “stop whining…the benefits of offshoring jobs outweighs the cost.”

During a trip to India in 2004, Tom Donohue assured business leaders, “We are very confident that outsourcing is here to stay…it would be absolutely foolish to try and stop the phenomenon.”

Over the last few weeks the same U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent nearly $100 million on ads that they assure us were not bought by any of the foreign money that comes into their coffers—and that’s all we have—their assurance. Those ads are primarily attack ads against the Democratic candidates. For example, one in Connecticut against Richard Blumenthal says, “Blumenthal: job-killing lawsuits hurting Connecticut families.” But, according to Campaign Money Watch, a non-partisan watch dog group, Connecticut has lost 87,500 jobs to outsourcing over the last 16 years.

In Missouri, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running an ad against Democrat Robin Carnahan, “In the past 2 years Missouri lost 120,000 jobs. So why does Robin Carnahan support card check—an unfair scheme to grow unions.” Outsourcing claimed 102,608 of those jobs. And yet, almost entirely all of their ads are focused on blaming Democrats for killing jobs.

Although the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has taken in at least $885,000 from over 80 foreign companies in disclosed donations – the ones we know about, we are supposed to believe that “Zero. As in not a single cent” of foreign money has been spent on those campaign ads, according to the Chamber’s Senior VP of Communications, Tom Collamore. Well, if he says so…

We do know that the U.S. Chamber receives money from a company in Mumbai, India called Patni Americas (can you believe it, they even use our name!), who calls itself the world leader in IT outsourcing. They also receive money from Quest Global in Singapore, who says it is a leader in engineering services outsourcing; and Wipro, in Bangalore, India, who claims it is India’s biggest destination for U.S. offshoring. But, keep in mind this is just a drop in the bucket. Most of the foreign money they are getting is undisclosed.

So, why do you suppose this powerful, wealthy organization wants Republicans to win and Democrats to lose? Is it because these Republicans are looking after the interests of the working class Americans? Or is it because Republicans support their causes? I mean, just a few weeks ago the Disclose Act, which would allow American Citizens to know exactly who is funding campaign ads, was filibustered by the Republicans in the Senate so that it couldn’t come to a vote (after it had already passed in the House). What are they so interested in hiding? Why don’t they want us to know?

The U.S. Chamber has made no bones about the fact that they think taking jobs from Americans and sending them to India and other places is good. And it’s an understatement to say they very definitely aren’t trying to hide the fact that they support the Republicans. It’s pretty easy to figure out.

If you happen to be one of the ones who lost your job to someone in India, well, you just need to “stop whining.” And see if you can’t scrape together a few dollars to add to Glenn Beck’s $10,000 donation to the Chamber…Oh yeah and one more thing, don’t forget to vote Republican on Tuesday. After all, these millions of Indian people have kids and grandkids that are going to need jobs soon.

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About Me

My work has appeared in magazines such as Woman's World, The Star, Endless Vacation and The Washington Post. I'm the author of four acclaimed novels published by Tor/Forge Books. My latest novel, CHOCOLATE ON A STICK, a quirky book about an elderly Appalachian couple on the run from a nursing home in a red Corvette, released in trade paperback by Baycrest Books in September 2005, was a 2005 Kentucky Literary Award in Fiction Nominee.
When I'm not writing or making jewelry with my new business, "Beautiful Evening Beads, my most favorite thing to do in the world spend time with my grandsons, Luke & Zealand--and sing karaoke. I'm a karaoke-addict, and I have a local group that meets every couple of weeks.